Google SketchUp 8 For Dummies 1st Edition

Before I read this book, I thought I knew a lot about Googe SketchUp 8 but afterwards, I realized how little I really did know. Sure, I had progressed beyond the novice stage some time back but this book filled in all those little gaps in my knowledge base, eliminated all those bad practices that I had developed over time and generally made me so much more productive.For example, I was using LAYERS in the same manner that I was used to in earlier 2D packages. Author Aidan Chopra gently but firmly pointed out the errors of my ways and that LAYERS in SU8 (which is a 3D drawing package) is used in a different way and that I should be placing more importance on GROUPS and COMPONENTS.Aidan makes the point that his book is not for the complete novice, explaining that he does not cover all the menu items and icons within the SU8 package. But, and this I think is important, he does presume that you are perhaps new to 3D modeling. To this end, he steps the reader through the early chapters at a gentle pace, culminating in Chapter 4, which is entitled "BUILDING BUILDINGS". From here on, the going gets a little tougher but nothing to be frighten about. Indeed, I was fascinated with the chapter entitled - "BEYOND BUILDINGS", which taught me how to draw organic forms with the SCALE TOOL; something that had eluded me up to that point.I found it a well rounded book, with the balance just right between the written word and illustrative diagrams. After the first read, it can easily be used as a reference book, with chapters dedicated to particular subject matter. An excellent product and highly recommended!No more am I an DUMMY!!

I'm an old country architect and so glad I've lived long 'nuff to see, have and use Google SketchUp 8 Pro. Brother Chopra (SketchUp Evangelist) 'splains everything in his book: "Google SketchUp 8 for Dummies"... bonus: he is funny! I'm an old designer of passive solar houses. SketchUp's "shadows" capability is worth the Pro price. If'n you youngin's out there wanna see how aggravatin' it was to build a cardboard model of a house, then take it out into the sunlight, tilt the whole shebang until the sundial indicated: "March 21st..." then find a copy of Ed Mazria's 1979 "The Passive Solar Energy Book" and see what it took to demonstrate a design to a client. After you showed the customer the drawings and photographs, (once you got prints back from the drugstore)... they'd hate something and literally, back to the drawing board, build a new cardboard model... wait for a sunny day... sheesh!Get a copy of Google SketchUp 8 Pro, Brother Chopra's "Google SketchUp 8 for Dummies" and you can bask in the sunshine, anytime.

I have found the Google Sketchup 8 For Dummies book to be a good guide for getting into Sketchup. It is comprehensive and detailed enough to get you up to speed fairly quickly. After reading and practicing with only the first five chapters, I was able to design a new bathroom vanity, including raised panel doors and a drop in basin. I was also able to design a remodeled master bathroom with tiled shower and soaking tub. It has certainly met my needs. However, like any piece of software with substantial capabilities, you have to spend time with Sketchup so that the essential drawing techniques become second nature.

Like most of Sketchup users probably, I just decided to jump in and give it a try based on the intuitive nature of the program, to see how far I would get. This approach has its pros and cons, as in everything, but as a person with little patience I dont really like to go thru manuals first, and then try; just do it and see where it stops. What it resulted in for me, was, apart from a complete in- and outside model as well as a walk-thru animation; a list of questions of things I kept running into. It was then that I started to look into this book, and was able to very quickly locate answers to, or parts of the book that related to, my questions ! This creates more confidence to keep on going with the program. In short; a valuable resource, when doing it on your own just leads to less than best or plain wrong practices, or seemingly 'insolvable' problems/questions ! Definitely recommend this one !

The book is filled with just the kind of information I was seeking about SketchUp. I would highly recommend the printed book version.Unfortunately, the Kindle Fire version is a major disappointment and not worth the money. I bought the Kindle version to use for guidance while using SketchUp on my computer. The book is very graphics intensive because it illustrates graphic procedures. Try as I might going over and over Kindle instructions, I was unable to get any kind of useful enlargements of the book's illustrations. Long before they are large enough to try to read, they are so blurred, rasterized, and out of focus that they are illegible. Kindle did its customers and the author a major disservice by failing to convert the printed illustrations to vector graphics which could be usefully enlarged.Other problems:- No useful table of contents - it doesn't readjust page numbers to fit Kindle's floating pages.- No index. Move to the 'End' looking for an index, and Kindle thinks you're finished and wipes out your position and bookmarks.- If Kindle has solutions to any of these shortcomings, they should stop hiding them.